The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile were a great catastrophe in the history of the Jewish Nation.
What really happened during that dark, fateful age, and how did new opportunities arise from the ashes?

VS

The course is a very welcome addition to some of the others dealing with the ancient near east especially those dealing with the bible, historical jerusalem and so on

BE

Apr 20, 2016

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Facinating study of a period that was relatively unknown. The information and insight gained makes the reading of the Biblical books more understandable.

À partir de la leçon

Introduction to geopolitics and geography of the Ancient Near East

Welcome to the first module of "The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem"! In this module you will be introduced to the geopolitical reality of the time of the Assyrian empire, followed by the Neo-Babylonian. We hope you'll find the videos informative and interesting. We encourage you to use the discussion forums in order to raise any questions or thoughts you might have after watching the videos.

Enseigné par

Professor Oded Lipschits, Ph.D.

Director, Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology

Transcription

The main objective of this course is to present a comprehensive and inclusive profile in so far as possible of the period of Babylonian rule over Judah. And to present the centrality of this time span to the geopolitical processes that were taking place in Judah between the end of the First Temple Period and the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Against this reality, one may re-examine the perception and trends embedded in Biblical historiography. And try to identify the time, place, and tendency of these writings, as well as the target audience for whom they were composed. In the coming weeks, I will try to emphasize that the Exilic period is not a time of a gap, but a period of historical, archeological, and theological bridge between the first and the second temple periods. This period was the connecting link between Judah, the Judahites and the Judaism of the pre and postexilic periods. I think that we are ready now to move to the technical introduction, dealing with the content and purpose of this course, its different parts, and how you can gain the most while participating in it. This course will last six weeks. It has six parts, with many small units that combine each part. Some units are long and some are short. Most of them are obligatory from my point of view. But some of them are optional and are meant to expand your knowledge on different aspects connecting to the main subject of this course. Some of the units will be delivered by my colleagues. And in any case, there will be a detailed technical introduction for every part of this course, explaining exactly what is the content, the structure, and purpose of each part, and what you can do in order to gain the most out of it. In order to gain it, my suggestion is to summarize the main events in any way you want and to create a kind of a detailed table that will contain the main events, dates, places and names in Assyria, Babylon, Egypt and Judah. In order to assist you with it, you will meet Chemon. He will appear from time to time and will remind you to summarize the main details. We are ready to move to the first part of this course, dealing with the historical and geopolitical background. I hope that you will learn a lot and I hope that you will enjoy this course, and Chemon.